Hola Napkin Kin!
Turning 60
This past Saturday I turned 60 years old. I’ve been thinking about this birthday for quite a while, for years actually. But I haven’t thought about it negatively. Yes, there is a sort of fatalistic element to some of the thoughts, I am growing older, I don’t have forever, I wonder if I will live as long as my mother (died age 62, way too early) or my father (died age 96, just about right). I am working on the 96 assumption. Gives me more things to plan for! Of course I really don’t know, as do any of us, when my time to move on will come. I have been through enough tragedy and accidents to know it could happen any time and I am ok with that.
Most of my thoughts about turning 60 have been very positive. For example, it’s great to get up in front of the runners I coach and say, “I’m running a marathon at age 60. If I can do it, you can do it.” I also don’t mind being able to run faster than 90% of the people I coach, many of whom are 1/2 my age. It’s also a bit of a thrill to say I am 60 and have people stare at you like you are crazy because they just don’t believe it. A little ego boost is a good thing at 60.
But there has been something deeper about turning 60 than just an ego boost. It’s also about being at that interesting tipping point in life when you no longer have to prove or defend yourself, but you still have hopes that some of the most profound and important things in your contribution to humanity are still ahead. You aren’t done, but you aren’t just starting either. For example, I don’t have to try to convince someone I am an artist as younger people often do. If they don’t have an exhibition record or sales or a lot of work to show, then are they really an artist? Can they make it as one? Do their parents and family think they really are one, or are they just dabbling, is it just a phase?
I don’t have to worry about that. I started as an artist at about age 17. That was 43 years ago. I have 43 years of being an artist. I have years of teaching, selling, showing, etc. It’s already a done deal. That doesn’t mean I have been a great success, I haven’t. But you don’t have to be a great success as an artist to be an artist. All you have to do is create art. I’ve done that for a LONG time. I am an artist.
60 at 60
One of the things that came to me leading up to 60 is that I want to be more conscientious and deliberate about things I do. To do that I decided to make a list of 60 things I want to do at 60. Each thing is to be done in multiples of 6, preferably simply 6, 60, 600, 6,000, etc.
I haven’t finished the list, I am giving myself 60 days to do that. But I have some written down so far. I know myself pretty well at age 60 and I am not making some grand proclamation that I am doing all of these. They are ideas I hope to implement. I think I will implement some completely, some partially, some not at all.
Here is my list so far. Feel free to contribute ideas in the comments below.
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Write 60 cards to people. If you want one of these, send me your street address to my email, Marty@napkindad.com
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Walk the dogs 60 times. I know, I know, don’t I already do that? No, I don’t. So, sue me.
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Sell 60 art pieces. I already sold one this year. That one counts even though it was before my birthday. Why? Because I say so. If you want to buy a drawing, let me know!
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Attain 6,000 average viewers a day on my blog and associated platforms. I probably first should figure out my numbers as of now, ya think?
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Add 600 people to my newsletter address book. I have about 900 now so 1,500 total would be a good goal.
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Give away 60 books. I have a lot of books. Most of these will go to Goodwill I think.
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Delete 60 people from Facebook friends list. I have 1,900 or so friends so 60 shouldn’t be too hard, right?
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Book 6 paid speaking engagements. I have given a lot of presentations over the years and need to organize and promote that better.
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Finish 6 major website upgrades. The first one is already done, that is a theme change that I implemented last week. 5 to go.
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Do 6 pull ups. I was able to do 3 last year but now am back down to 1 (I’ve been lazy in the cross-training department)
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Fix 6 things . I went to Virginia to visit my daughter last month and I did a ton of DIY stuff around her house. If I can do it around her house I can do it around my house too.
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Build 6 things. I built a cool bookshelf from our old piano a number of years ago. I want to do more things like that.
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Cook 60 meals from scratch. I love to cook but most of the time I do more heating up than cooking. When I do cook it’s usually nothing special. I want to cook more cool stuff from scratch.
I asked on Facebook for some suggestions and here are some I think I might work on as well.
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Melanie suggested 6 fish tacos
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Lauren said be grateful for 6 things when you wake up and 6 when you go to bed.
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Angelika offered 6 half marathons
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Sex 60 times was Sam‘s recommendation
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Byron thought riding my bike 60 times was a good idea
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Jenny wants me to do 6 or 60 random acts of kindness
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Jenny also thinks I should give $60 to someone who needs it or by $60 dollars worth of stuff for someone.
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Jill thinks I can try 6 new food types each month
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Janis wants me to wish on 6 or 60 or 600 coins thrown in a fountain
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Robi thinks running 600 miles this year is doable.
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Take pictures of 6 families who can not afford a photographer is Anna‘s offering
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Judy has ‘pay it forward at least 6 times’ as her recommendation
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Jill says a bubble bath for 60 minutes while I eat 6 chocolates and drink 6 (or 60) ounces of champagne should be on my list
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Margaret concludes 6 affirmations said to myself and repeated 6 times for 60 days would be worthwhile
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Cynthia thinks I need to do a top 6 countdown of something
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Suzanne says visiting each grandchild 6 times this year needs to be done
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Courtney wants me to donate $6,000 dollars to her 6 times in 2015
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Chanting 666 on public transit until I get beat up is Julie‘s brilliant idea
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Jeanne suggests 6 marathons in 6 states in 6 days
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John wants me to back a big cake and cut it into 60 pieces and freezing them so I can bring one out every 6th day and eat it
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Pam wants to hear me sing 6 songs from the 60s
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Roxanne contributes 6 times a day for 6 days find 6 reasons to make 6 people’s lives easier
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Sidney thinks I should breathe 60 billion times and keep count
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John wants me to attend a concert with 6 musicians in it
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Earl says I should do 20 push ups three times a day
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Run 60 miles in 6 days is Brian‘s suggestion
I will keep you informed of my progress over the year. In the meanwhile, what are your suggestions?